Rose McGowan

"You have to work to carve out your own little corner, and I'm certainly smacking my head against the wall trying to make a dent. I just hope I don't get brain-damaged before I get there." - Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan has carved out a niche for herself in Hollywood as an offbeat wild-child actress and has attracted the likes of Marilyn Manson and Robert Rodriguez in the process.

SEX APPEAL

Rose McGowan has the wild-child personality and the hot body to match it, making her a popular poster girl for many men. In 2007's Planet Terror segment of Grindhouse, she proved that she could be sexy with one leg. Not surprisingly, Maxim, Stuff and FHM have all recognized her on their "Sexiest" and "Hot" lists, with two of her highest rankings being No. 39 for Stuff in 2002 and No. 44 for Maxim in 2007.

Thanks to her natural charms, Rose McGowan has stolen the hearts of more than a few famous men. The most notable was Marilyn Manson, who was Rose's squeeze (and one-time fiance) for three years. Although it provided ample debate as to which of them was wearing the most make-up, their odd coupling did allow Rose McGowan to wear a memorable see-through chain-mail dress at the 1998 MTV Movie Awards. This all goes to show that Rose McGowan looks great, no matter whose arm she's on or what she's wearing.

Since then, Rose McGowan has grown into a charming and alluring woman, often appearing in cleavage-pushing dresses that have tons of class. We'd say that if there were a modern-day Marilyn Monroe, Rose would be it.

SUCCESS

No one's going to confuse Rose McGowan's acting abilities with those of Meryl Streep, but she has a knack for appearing in films that will keep cult audiences clapping and cheering for more. 2007's Grindhouse is a great example, but Rose has also starred in the horror smash Scream (1996), the dark indie The Doom Generation (1995) and the comedy Jawbreaker (1999). On the small screen, Rose McGowan earned her stripes alongside Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano with a long-term stint on Charmed, which caused many hearts to flutter.

In 2008, Rose McGowan worked on playing another real person, the late B-movie starlet, Susan Cabot in Black Oasis. She followed that up with a role in the thriller Man on the Run. Rose McGowan has also expressed an interest in pursuing music in the future, ultimately to record an album of her own. If she continues in her offbeat ways, Rose McGowan will be an equal delight for many midnight moviegoers for years to follow.

Rose McGowan Biography

You wouldn't know it from her voice, but Rose McGowan's life began in Florence, Italy. Born to a French-American mother and an Irish father, Rose spent the first 10 years of her life in Florence without learning a word of English. It was only when her parents divorced that she moved to the U.S. and lived with her dad in Seattle.

Interested in show business, she left for Los Angeles to try acting and found her way into 1992's Encino Man with Pauly Shore. This was Rose McGowan's way into Hollywood and, after a meeting with upstart indie director Gregg Araki, Rose was cast in The Doom Generation, a genre favorite that resulted in a nomination for Best Debut Performance at the Independent Spirit Awards in 1996. A role in Scream gave her added mainstream attention, and Rose McGowan had more film auditions than she ever expected.

rose mcgowan joins the cast of charmed

From 1997 until 2001, Rose McGowan continued in films, including another role for Araki in Nowhere, a turn opposite Donnie Wahlberg in the critically acclaimed Southie and the wrestling comedy Ready to Rumble. Rose McGowan also got a taste of MTV Movie Awards acclaim when she was nominated for Best Villain in the cruel comedy Jawbreaker (1999) opposite Julie Benz and Rebecca Gayheart.

Not having had much exposure on television, Rose McGowan got a break when Charmed star Shannen Doherty was fired from the show and Rose was hired to replace her. She started on the series in 2001 as Paige Matthews and continued on the series until 2006, winning an award for "Favorite Sister" from the Family Television Awards along the way. Rose McGowan also took on occasional movie roles like the Brendan Fraser comedy Monkeybone (2001) and the Golden Globe-winning mini-series Elvis, which cast her as Ann-Margret.

rose mcgowan is named no. 57 in 2008 top 99

Rose McGowan's schedule became manic in 2006 when she won roles in The Black Dahlia and both halves of the Robert Rodriguez-Quentin Tarantino double bill Grindhouse. Rose was still contractually obligated to Charmed until the series was canceled, so she had to film her Grindhouse scenes outside of the shooting hours of Charmed. In Tarantino's Death Proof, Rose McGowan had a memorable cameo as Kurt Russell's unfortunate passenger, while Rodriguez cast her as a go-go dancer who becomes a fighting machine in the goofy Planet Terror. It was also reported and confirmed by Zap2It.com in 2007, that Rose and Rodriquez were engaged.

The Grindhouse films didn't set the box office on fire, but it did give Rose McGowan the kick-ass, offbeat and physically demanding roles that she relishes. She also got to do wire work, which she giddily compared to flying. Actress, beauty, thrill-seeker -- no wonder we had a special place for irresistible Rose McGowan on AskMen's Top 99 Most Desirable Women 2008 list.

rose mcgowan in red sonja

Since 2008, Rose McGowan's career has gone slightly downhill. In 2009, she acted in a few episodes of the Golden Globe-winning series Nip/Tuck, and in 2010, she was cast in the box office flop Dead Awake. 2011 may be looking up for the badass bombshell, with her upcoming films Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja.